The following was found by Budd Lenz while looking through some of Annie's things. It's a letter Annie wrote to describe her life...
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I was born in Nottingham England. We came to the US in 1926 and settled in Chicago. I attended Grammar school there and then high-school where I met Lenny. We dated for three years and married in 1939. I was 19 years old. Lenny had asthma and couldn't take the Chicago winters, so we moved to phoenix in 1949 - and that's when we started a new life.
Like all new comers to Arizona we traveled throughout the state, visiting the Grand Canyon, Oak Creek, ghost Towns, Visited the Lavender pit mine, which is now closed, we traveled down the Coronado trail when it was just a dirt road, throughout the winding Salt River Canyon, and remember Yarnell Hill! The town of Gerome! And then like most people we just had to visit Nogales to be able to say we were in Mexico.
In 1953 I joined βΣΦ and Lenny joined the Orpheus Male Chorus, and that was the beginning of our many travels.
In 1954 we went to Hermosillo, Mexico with the Orpheus Chorus. In 1957 we again went to Hermosillo and Nogales. Surprisingly, Nogales is very different when you get away from the border section.
They had a very nice music hall where the menu performed. In 1958 we went overseas to Europe and the chorus performed in seven countries. Italy-Denmark-Belgium-France-Germany-Austria-Switzerland. They were guest performers at the international music festival in Vienna and also at the Worlds fair in Brussels.
In 1960 Lenny and I made our first trip to Hawaii and fell in love with it. In those days it wasn’t as commercialized as it is today. In 1962 we again went overseas for a concert at the German Sangerbund music Festival in Essen.
In 1964 Lenny and I again went to Hawaii. In 1966 we returned to Hawaii with the chorus for a command performance on the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, which was very emotional experience. We were also guest of the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor. Wherever the chorus went, they sang – in the restaurant where we ate, on the steps of city halls, hotel Lobbies, there was constant singing throughout all of their trips.
Then Lenny became involved with his Hawaiian music and formed a band. His engagements did not coincide with the Orpheus schedules so in 1968 Lenny dropped out and devoted his time to Hawaiian music and Hawaiian Shows. We had a 4 piece band and 6 Hawaiian dancers and performed throughout the valley at various clubs and conventions in Safford, Lake Havasu, Flagstaff, Tucson, Yuma, the Sundome in Sun City, so once again we traveled throughout Arizona.
In 1969 we went to Tahiti and Bora Bora
1970 – Jamaica
1971 – Hawaii Again!
1972 – Aruba
1973 – Hawaii and San Juan Puerto Rico
1974 – Samoa
1975 – Santo Domingo
1976 – Hawaii – Again
1979 – Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula
1980 – Cabo San Lucas, Also Hawaii for our 41st Anniversary
But Lenny picked up a virus and became quite ill and spent the entire vacation in the hotel. We got him well enough to get him on the plane for home and found out that had pneumonia. That was our last trip, he couldn’t travel anymore. I have a lot of pictures fond memories and just don’t care to travel now.
When Lenny died, Ollie came to Phoenix and lived with me for 11 years. We were very close. In going through my desk I came across a birthday card she had given me, a card that truly expressed our love for each other.